


Relentless You Survive

by Axolotls_and_Paladins



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Childhood Friends, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gay Shiro (Voltron), How Do I Tag, Kinda, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining Keith (Voltron), Secret Identity, Secrets, Space Pirates, no more tags because they'll spoil things, that's irrelevant but i'm tagging it anyways, that's not a spoiler
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-14
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2019-09-17 23:26:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16983807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Axolotls_and_Paladins/pseuds/Axolotls_and_Paladins
Summary: When Keith was nine years old, he became best friends with Lance. Lance is from Earth, a planet Keith has never seen and can only dream of from his barracks in the Garrison satellite orbiting Kerberos.However, when a wave of Galra attacks are inflicted on the weakening satellite, Keith loses everything he loves, including Lance.Four years later, Keith has the chance to venture out into space and save his friend, with the help of an untrustworthy ally with a hidden agenda.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [saspa_melon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saspa_melon/gifts).



> Title is from "Legends Never Die" which is an awesome League of Legends song.
> 
> Music that I listened to when writing this fic:
> 
> Respire - Ursine Vulpine  
> Atlas: Year One, December 13, 2017: Geminid Meteor Shower - Sleeping At Last  
> Cosmic Love - Florence + the Machine (obvs)  
> Faded, Alone, The Spectre, Darkside, The Strongest, etc. - Alan Walker  
> This is Acting - Sia  
> I Found - Amber Run  
> War of Hearts - Ruelle  
> Any song by League of Legends
> 
> I don't know, just thought it might help

When Keith was nine years old, it was apparently decided for him that he was now Lance’s new best friend. Not that he particularly minded, considering his only actual friend was Shiro, who was a whole seven years older than him and had friends of his own that he had to hang out with. And it was perfectly fine, Keith told himself, that Shiro had others to fall back on and Keith only had Shiro. That is, until he met Lance. 

Lance had arrived only two weeks before. He was scrawny as a child and was more so as he grew older (a sentiment Keith had once shared with Lance, who had made an affronted noise at the comment and had smacked him with a pillow which devolved into chaos very quickly). He was loud and sometimes spoke in a language that Keith had never heard, one of lyrical vowels and rolled consonants and beautiful words.

But the most fascinating thing about Lance wasn’t any of that. It was that he was from Earth.

The Garrison Satellite was a self-sufficient colony orbiting Kerberos that housed supplies for trips out of the system and was largely regarded as the greatest achievement of human technology. Many of the people housed there were scientists or military officials that were necessary for the functioning of the vessel. These were the facts that had been drilled into Keith’s head since he was a child. 

What it didn’t say was that many of the people at the Garrison had never set foot on the planet that they hailed from.

What it didn’t say was that the Garrison was slowly falling apart, far away from the people they represented.

What it didn’t say was that Keith had never seen a blue sky before.

He’d imagined it, of course, or tried to, with the limited knowledge he had. Most, if not all, of the kids at the Garrison had tried, at some time or another. It was a story they’d all heard so often at night, that Earth was a “planet”, where the ground was covered in plants that didn’t just grow synthetic vegetables, where gravity wasn’t created but experienced, where seeing stars was a commodity and not the norm.

And where everyday, the sky was blue, not purple-black, and there was only one star that engulfed all the others, that burned so high and bright, not twinkling in the distance but burning up the air and heating the world.

The sky was what Keith wanted to see more than anything. He wanted to see Earth, be on solid ground that wasn’t metal. 

He knew it was impossible, so he settled for the next best thing: talking to Lance.

Lance was quite popular already, despite how recent his move had been. It made sense, considering that he was new, and most of all, that he was from Earth. He knew what blue skies looked like, what grass felt like, what the ocean smelt like.

Still, with all the people that surrounded him, it was hard for Keith to work up the courage to go talk to him.

Turns out he didn’t have to make that decision.

The day he first talked to Lance started as any other, which is to say it was incredibly boring. 

The mandatory classes the Garrison provided before offering specialized classes were lackluster in Keith’s opinion. Despite almost never attending classes or paying attention when he did attend, Keith maintained the highest rank in his class, reinforcing his opinion that either the students or the teachers were idiots.

His theory was proven correct when he abruptly ran into another student, a little younger than him, who had apparently decided to ditch class and was passing his time by turning on the fire sprinklers and running through them.

 _‘What the heck?’_ Keith was appalled by the strange sight in front of him. The student, a lanky brown boy who looked incredibly familiar in a way Keith couldn’t place when confronted with such stupidity, seemed unaware of Keith’s flabbergasted staring.

“What are you doing?” The words left Keith’s mouth unbidden. The boy turned toward Keith, seeming surprised that he was there, despite the fact that he’d been standing there for the last five minutes, and- oh. 

His eyes. The second their eyes locked, Keith felt unsteady on his feet, pulled into the absolute _blue_ of them. _‘I didn’t know someone’s eyes could be that color,’_ he thought absently.

“I… uh-” the boy stammered, breaking Keith out of his weird trance. He awkwardly rubbed his neck before letting out a defeated sigh and saying, “I’m running through the sprinklers.”

“Yeah, but why?” The whole concept of actively getting wet in your clothes of your own volition was incomprehensible.

The boy shyly bit his lip like his reasoning seemed ridiculous in hindsight, which it probably did. “It’s kind of embarrassing,” he said before turning to Keith, seemingly thinking that would throw him off his trail or something.

Keith simply raised an eyebrow, wordlessly prompting the boy to continue.

“I- I wanted to feel the rain again.” The boy’s words almost blurred together with how rapid-fire it came out.

Keith let out a disoriented “what?”

The boy groaned. “I know it’s stupid and childish, but I really missed it and moving here is great, don’t get me wrong. It’s super cool, but-”

“What’s rain?” Keith blurted.

“What’s- what?” The boy’s face turned from flustered to incredibly confused. “You mean you don’t know what rain is?”

Keith felt strangely defensive at the remark. “That’s why I asked, isn’t it?” He huffed. “Forget it. If you’re just going to be rude-”

“NO! Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just, you know, where I’m from, everyone know what rain is. It’s just a thing that happens. But I guess since you guys don’t have rain, it makes sense that you don’t know what it is.”

“Where _are_ you from?” Keith asked, his curiosity piqued. 

The boy turned his strange blue eyes towards him, as if scanning him. “You really don’t know? I thought everyone knew. I’m from Earth.”

With that, the pieces slammed together in Keith’s mind and he stared wide-eyed at the boy in front of him, feeling like he’d just seen him for the first time. “You- you’re Lance.”

Lance stuck his hand out. “Nice to meet you- err…”

Keith realized he was staring again and quickly shook his head to snap out of it. “Keith. My name’s Keith.” Before he could overthink it, he reached out and shook Lance’s hand.

Lance’s returning smile was brighter than anything Keith had ever seen. “Nice to meet you Keith.”

The rest of the day was spent with Lance sharing stories about Earth that sounded fantastical and wild to Keith, like water falling from the air and the many strange creatures that inhabited Earth alongside humans.

Before parting ways, Lance seemed to remember something and turned to Keith. “I told my mom I’d make a new friend at school today. But…”

“You didn’t end up going,” Keith said with a smirk on his face.

Lance moaned. “Yeah.”

“You did make a new friend today though. Me.” The words were out into the open before Keith could take them back, but he found he didn’t really want to. It was the truth.

Lance perked up at those words. “Oh yeah. Thanks Keith.”

He turned his body toward Keith and straightened his posture, adopting a ridiculous, almost snooty look. “From now on, we’re best friends. Promise?” He stuck his pinky out.

“Are you serious?” Keith deadpanned before seeing Lance’s, yep, 100% serious look.

Keith grumbled at the stupidity before giving in to the pinky swear.

That night, the last thought on Keith’s mind as he drifted away was whether the Earth’s sky was just as bright blue as Lance’s eyes.

✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺

When Keith was thirteen years old, he fell in love.

He didn’t realize it at first, of course. When Lance’s wide toothy grin first made his heart flutter, he wrote it off. It was easy to forget the moments when he glanced at Lance’s lips for too long or when he melted into Lance’s one-armed hugs.

The day Keith realized it was without fanfare. Lance wasn’t doing anything special, just trying to make Pidge and Hunk laugh like normal.

_‘I think I love him.’_

The thought came unbidden, but the second it came, it grafted itself into Keith’s very being. The thing that was the most surprising for Keith was that he wasn’t surprised. This was the boy he’d spent years with, the one who he trusted to have his back. 

Maybe this news wouldn’t have been devastating. Maybe now that Keith had categorised it, he could get over it. 

That is, he could have, if Lance didn’t start dating Charlotte that month.

Charlotte was kind (unlike Keith), soft-spoken (unlike Keith) and laughed at Lance’s jokes (unlike Keith). She got along with everyone and (most importantly, Keith thought petulantly) she was a girl.

Lance was head over heels for Charlotte, doting on her, and Keith couldn’t even bring himself to hate her. She made Lance happy, so Keith tried to take all his stupid feelings, shove them in a box and throw them into space.

Turns out that it’s really hard to get over your crush when you have to see his idiotic, beautiful face everyday.

It became almost too much when Lance asked her out to the school dance the Garrison threw every year. It was sappy enough to make Keith want to gag as well as writhe in his own jealousy.

It got exponentially worse when Keith decided to voice his numerous complaints with the Garrison dance to Lance, and Lance decided that the best solution was making it a double date by pairing Keith with one of Charlotte’s friends.

Yep. God, he was oblivious.

So that’s how Keith ended up at this god-awful dance, wearing a very uncomfortable rental suit, on a date with a girl he barely knows while watching his best-friend-slash-love-of-his-life have a great time with his girlfriend. And this third-wheel-turned-double-date idea of Lance’s wasn’t helping his mood either. 

It’s not that Jenna wasn’t nice. She was, but her high-pitched giggle whenever Keith said anything and her unnecessary jostling of his shoulder were kind of… unbearably annoying.

Keith normally said how he felt about people directly to their face, but he really didn’t want to ruin everyone’s good time just because of his terrible mood. So instead of telling Jenna to back off because he wasn’t interested, he took the coward’s way out and told her he was getting himself some punch, before veering hard left and hiding out in the men’s restroom.

Despite getting some questioning looks, Keith had enough of a reputation that most people didn’t ask, for fear of getting possibly murdered.

 _Most_ people.

“What are you doing in here?” an unfortunately familiar voice asked.

“Enjoying the wonderful scenery,” Keith deadpanned.

Lance sighed. “Why are you sitting on the ground of a dirty school bathroom when you’re supposed to be out there with Jenna?”

Keith shrugged. “Just needed to get away.”

“Why? Did you guys not get along or something?”

“Just-” Keith growled before sighing. “Just drop it Lance.”

Lance deflated but complied, moving to sit down next to Keith. After a few moments of awkward silence, Keith decided to respond. 

“No, I guess we didn’t get along,” he said, mostly to get Lance to stop asking.

“Huh. That’s weird. I thought she was totally into you.”

“Yeah,” Keith muttered, uncomfortable, “she was.”

“Did you not like her back? She seemed pretty nice and cute, so I-”

“I like guys, Lance,” Keith blurted before he lost the courage.

Shocked silence filled the bathroom, a place where, Keith was becoming increasingly aware, you probably shouldn’t be relaying your deepest secrets to your best friend.

“Oh,” was all Lance said.

“Yeah,” Keith replied. He didn’t really feel like talking.

They sat in silence in that bathroom for a long while.

A few weeks later, Charlotte broke up with Lance and started dating Jeremy. Such was the way thirteen year olds dated. 

Lance, however, was heartbroken. He came over to Keith’s barracks, pathetically sobbing. Keith rolled his eyes but comforted him and stole some freeze-dried ice cream from the cafeteria for Lance to eat his feelings with.

And Keith promised himself he would stay like this, never the one to break Lance’s heart but always there to pick up the pieces.

His sentiment didn’t stop Shiro from almost peeing himself while laughing at Keith’s predicament of a situation.

Sometimes Keith really wanted to punch Shiro.

✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺

When Keith was fifteen years old, everything he took for granted was destroyed.

For the life of him, Keith couldn’t remember what they’d been doing just moments before the event. It could have been something stupid like trying to see who could fit more food packets into their mouth, or something mundane like just eating lunch and goofing off. 

Whatever it was, it was forgotten when the doors were suddenly blasted off their hinges.

Keith must have blacked out for a moment, because when he opened his eyes, he realized the alarms were going off. The alarms that meant Galra had boarded.

“Come on!” Lance grabbed his hand and pulled him down the halls.

“Lance,” his voice sounded choked in his own ears. “What- where are we going?”

“We’ve been quarantined off from the rest of the ship, I think. There’s a safe room somewhere around here,” he replied, his eyes trained forward. “We have to get-”

He suddenly cut off and abruptly turned another hallway, yanking Keith to his side.

“What-” Keith started but was harshly hushed. Lance soundlessly pointed down the hall they’d just been on, where a tall and very furry purple alien was ambling the halls.

They ran away, attempting to be silent.

It became harder and harder to avoid the Galra the more they ran. Lance seemed to realize this and dove into an empty room, pulling Keith in with him.

“Quick,” he gestured to Keith and pointed to a large-ish chest standing in the corner. “Hide in here.”

“What about you?” Keith frantically replied.

Lance bit his lips, thinking. The sounds of Galra outside were getting harder to ignore.

Lance turned back towards Keith. “I’ll figure something out. Just… stay safe.”

With that, he closed the lid over Keith’s head. 

He heard Lance make a small gasp. He desperately wanted to know why, but before he lifted the lid, he heard a gruff voice say, “What do we have here?”

Keith couldn’t see what’s happening but he knew who the voice belonged to. Galra.

Another Galra replied with a low laugh. “Looks like a civilian.”

“Look kinda like Alteans, don’t they?” The first one answered, seeming to get closer. “What’s your name?”

Keith heard a hacking noise and an angry shout. Lance didn’t just spit at a Galra’s face, did he?

Apparently, he was a lot dumber than Keith expected.

The first Galra (presumably the one Lance spit at) growled. “Why you little-”

He was cut off by another laugh. “He’s feisty,” the other Galra said. “Let’s take him back to the ship.”

 _‘No,’_ Keith thought, a sentiment shared by Lance. 

“No, nononono, please,” Lance begged. Keith’s heart hurt for him. He should be out there with Lance. He should have made Lance hide.

He was so busy in his thoughts that he almost didn’t hear the Galra’s next words. “I saw you, you know,” he says, calmly, callously, “with that other boy.” 

_‘He’s talking about me,’_ Keith realizes.

“If you don’t want to go,” the Galra continues, his voice soft enough to almost be a purr, “I guess we could just take him instead.”

It’s a better solution, Keith thinks. Lance has family, friends. He’s popular and kind in a way that makes everyone want to bask in the light he carries with him. Keith just has Lance and Shiro, both people that would probably have others to take his place in their lives. It’s the best solution, he decides.

Before he can insert himself into the conversation, though, he felt the weight on the lid of the box shift. _‘Lance.’_

“No!” Lance says from outside the box, loud enough to drown out the shout that leaves Keith’s throat. “No, I- I’ll go. Just please. Don’t hurt him.”

“I knew I liked you,” the Galra responds, his voice sending acid through Keith’s intestines.

By the time Keith can get out, Lance is gone.

✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺

When Keith was seventeen years old, he couldn’t take his eyes off the TV screen.  
It didn’t matter how much he stared at the screen, the words “Kerberos Mission Disappears Pilot Error” didn’t register in his brain.

 _‘You’re in shock,’_ the rational part of his mind supplied somewhere in his consciousness.

 _‘He’s gone,’_ the rest of his brain replies.

What could you do when the last vestiges of happiness in your eternally messed-up life vanished?

Keith freezing up did not prevent him from narrowing his eyes at the words “Pilot Error”, however.

He relayed his suspicions to Hunk, who nervously (the big man was a ball of nerves) replied, “What do you think it was then?”

Keith snorted. “I have one theory, and it’s big, mean and purple.”

“But why would the Garrison hide it if the Galra were behind the crash?” Hunk shook his head. “Besides, there’s no way the Galra could have gotten that close to Earth; the Garrison is the defense between them and Earth, remember?”

Despite Hunk’s logic, Keith knew that the Garrison was hiding something, that that something might be a malicious, alien, plundering force.

What do you do when everything you love disappears? Apparently, you join the military.

✺✺✺✺✺✺✺✺

When Keith is nineteen years old, his world explodes into white noise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This idea's been floating around my head since around season 6 but I didn't think about writing it until season 7, when I told my friend saspa_melon about it and she told me to write it. 
> 
> So here I am publishing it right before season 8. Here you go Saspa! Happy birthday! Sorry, I'm a really slow writer.
> 
> Unbetaed because I wanted to get this out before this show ends but I'll come back and edit this once I get the hang of writing.


	2. Welcome to the War

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title of the chapter is from "RISE", which is also a League of Legends song.
> 
> Hey guys! Sorry it's been... a little over a month?
> 
> I swear, I was going to finish the chapter in about two weeks, but then there were mid-terms and winter break happened and I went on a cruise and then I kinda forgot???
> 
> Anyway, I'm back with another chapter. Sorry if it feels a little rushed. I'm not good at writing action. The good news though is that next chapter, the plot actually starts!
> 
> Yayyyy
> 
> Okay, enjoy the chapter I guess

Keith will never get used to the alarms blaring. He supposes it was part of his job now, so he might as well get used to it, but it was easier to think that than actually do it.

“You ready?” Keith hears in his periphery. 

_‘Never,’_ he thinks, but out loud he says, “Ready as I’ll ever be.” It’s as close as he can get to the truth anyway.

He turns to face Adam. The man is most likely the only person who knew Shiro as well as Keith did. 

_‘Would you believe me?’_ Keith wonders. _‘If I told you what they said was a lie? That Shiro didn’t make any error besides leaving us behind?’_ Perhaps he would, but Adam is nothing if not loyal to the Garrison. Maybe, on some slim chance, he would believe Keith, but at the end of the day, nothing would change. 

Adam nods once at him, before turning on his heel, probably heading towards the alarms. One thing Keith can appreciate about him is that he never tends to pry, unlike- _‘Nope, we’re not doing this. Not now.’_

Keith shakes out the intrusive thoughts and runs off to catch up with Adam.

“You know the drill,” Adam is telling the group of soldiers as Keith comes in. “First priority is getting civilians to the safe room.” His eyes are hard, and Keith is struck not for the first time by how different he is from the man Shiro gushed over for hours on end. But, he supposes, maybe they’re all different from before.

Adam starts for the shut gates, and turns back, regarding the group with his hard eyes again. “If you run into any Galra, remember to kill on sight.” And with that, they’re off.

The quarantined area looks too similar to bad memories. No matter how many times they’ve done this, Keith always feels his stomach rolling and all of a sudden, he’s _fifteen years old again and running for his life and Lance, Lance is there beside him and-_

_‘I thought I said no more useless thoughts,’_ Keith chides himself. He forces himself to pay attention to any structural damage that the Galra have caused as well. 

The Galra are as thorough as they are ruthless. Panels have been stripped off the walls, with anything that looked remotely valuable pocketed. Keith can’t see any people in the rooms he’s passed by. He unreasonably hopes that they’ve all made it to the saferooms, but he knows that it’s more likely that some have perished at the hands of the pirates.

Again his thoughts are going down a dangerous path. Keith’s hands are itching for a fight; it’s all he can do to keep his mind at bay, but he knows that the civilians are the first priority and that he’s already in too much trouble with Iverson for going looking for fights, so he keeps moving forward, one foot at a time, searching the rooms and stewing in the thoughts he’s trying so desperately to fight off.

It doesn’t take long to find a straggler. He’s alone, Keith sees, and surveying a bedroom for anything valuable. Keith almost snorts, knowing that those places were most likely hit first and are practically barren at this point. Still, other than being stupid, the Galra looks big enough to be a good enough fight for Keith to punch his feelings out.

_‘No,’_ the rational part of his brain warns. _‘You’re supposed to kill on sight, remember? No unnecessary fights.’_

For once, Keith is inclined to agree, but fate doesn’t seem to like that plan, since the Galra immediately spots him as soon as he thinks those words. _'Well, fate can go suck a dick.'_

Keith fires shots from the Garrison-mandated handgun, but the bullets just bounce off of the charging purple meatsack. Keith knew it was going to be futile anyway. He tosses it to the side, pulling his trusty dagger out of the sheath strapped to the his waist. While not technically allowed by protocol, the dagger has been more helpful in these fights than the useless Garrison tech weapons. 

The Galra charges forward with no forethought. Keith parries the attack, fueled by instinct and muscle memory. The world blurs into purple as Keith gets into the motions. _Attack. Block. Feint. Dodge. Hit. Miss._ It’s what Keith loves about this job. The rush of adrenaline and single-track mind. In this moment, he doesn’t have to remember. He can just _do_ , and that’s enough. 

The Galra falls with very little effort, but the noise from the fight has most likely drawn others to Keith’s position. He keeps moving forward, in part to do his job and in part to get away from the dead alien in case one of its comrades sees it and wants revenge.

It isn’t till Keith’s been walking for about five minutes that he notices something’s off. The halls are unnaturally quiet, and the walls are weirdly clean. Or rather, they don’t look stripped of everything. 

Keith draws closer, inspecting the unnaturally intact walls when a noise breaks through the silence.

_‘A trap,’_ Keith thinks just before a veiny, fur-covered fist comes gliding past his face. Keith dodges, but the hit lands on his shoulder. 

Pain blossoms from the impact, leaving no doubt it’s dislocated, but Keith knows that that’s the least of his worries. 

Through the pain, he attempts to gain his bearings. He counts at least eight Galra, but there’s probably more than that. An ambush then. But why? Why him?

He can’t spend much time perplexing over it because the Galra attack again. They swarm him, too many to fight off by himself. He has to get out. He dives under one of the smaller Galra, throwing them off their feet. It does nothing when more Galra close in on him. 

He doesn’t recall how many of those purple furballs pound on him. It feels like an endless swarm of them. He doesn’t remember how he ended up curled on the ground with his head shielded by his arms, yet here he is. Really, he’d be embarrassed of the situation if he weren’t so busy not dying.

It’s when he’s swimming at the edge of his consciousness that they stop. _‘Why? Aren’t I supposed to be dead?’_ Not that he’s complaining; he's very much happy being alive.

He tries to open his eyes to see what’s happening, but all that comes through is a small thread of light.

“Shhhh.” A voice. It sounds distorted, but Keith can’t tell if that’s what it actually sounds like or if that’s the byproduct of some kind of brain damage. “It’s gonna be fine."

And then, "You’re safe now.”

Keith says something, he thinks. He can’t remember what, but the shape of the word is familiar. 

That’s the last thing he thinks before he blacks out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is usually the part where I tell you about my tumblr but I don't have a tumblr so hmu on my twitter or on the Voltron Amino
> 
> Twitter: https://twitter.com/PAxolotls  
> Amino: https://bit.ly/2sOtZjk


	3. Like Science Fiction Bending Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from "Mercury" by Sleeping At Last
> 
> This chapter was supposed to be out four months ago, but I have valid excuses I swear!
> 
> \- There was a lot of stressing for finals. That was 60% of the reason.  
> \- I also just kinda forgot to work on this a lot of the time.  
> \- I spent a good portion of my time out of school on the other side of the planet with no laptop and/or wifi.
> 
> Excuses aside, this chapter is an exposition dump, and I kinda didn't know how to write it. I'm still not happy with how it turned out, but Saspa was antagonizing me to get it out, so here it is.

The first thing Keith was aware of as he gained consciousness was that he didn’t know where he was. Strangely, he wasn’t particularly bothered by this in the beginning, being more focused on the actual “waking up” part.

It wasn’t until he felt the presence of someone else in the room that he realized this wasn’t his bunker.

He abruptly tries to get up, but as soon as he does, the room wobbles and swirls like he’s swimming in gelatin.

“Whoa,” says a voice to his right. “Easy there.”

He doesn’t know where he was, but it’s definitely not the Garrison bunker. He tries to make out the speaker through bleary eyes. All he can see at this point is their bizarre silhouette with maybe-branches sticking out the sides of their head.

_‘Oh my god I’ve been kidnapped by an alien’_ is Keith’s first coherent thought, and he immediately reaches to his side for his dagger. Instead of feeling the familiar, cool steel, however, he finds himself just grasping at air.

The voice makes a huffing noise that Keith suspects is a laugh. “Did you really think I’d leave you armed? I figured you’d try to stab me as soon as you woke up.” 

Now that he’s fully awake, Keith can tell their voice is distorted by what he can now tell is just a very strange mask with antler-esque appendages on the sides. The figure also wears a scraggly shawl covered in strange markings over top of pieces of what he assumes is armor, which does nothing to cover the innate scrawniness of the person(alien?). Despite how skinny they are though, Keith has a feeling that they are not one to be trifled with.

The area he’s in is just as unfamiliar. It appears to be some sort of cargo hold. Is he on a ship? When did he get here? He can see the cold expanse of space through the windows; that has never been knew to him, but the stars surrounding him are so different from what he’s used to. It leaves a feeling of cold creeping up in the pit of his stomach.

The figure seems to have noticed him tensing, because they hold their hands up in a placating gesture. “Don’t worry. I’m not gonna hurt you, you know,” they say. “I didn’t save you from the Galra just to kill you.”

The comment is so abrupt and so far off the mark that he has to pause to comprehend it.

“You-” Keith falters and tries to think. He does remember being attacked by the Galra, but everything about being saved is a blur. What happened? Where did this person come from? Had they talked to him? He remembers a voice… was it this weird, distorted one?

“Thanks, I guess,” He awkwardly says, not really knowing how to respond when he can’t even clearly remember what happened. 

The figure moves a little closer to him, almost seeming unconscious of the movement. Keith can’t see their face, but he can feel their eyes scrutinizing him, trying to pick him apart. It’s a very disconcerting feeling.

“Do you…” They make a noise that sounded like they’re clearing their throat but the distortion on it makes Keith wince. “Do you remember what happened?”

“No?” Keith responds unsure. He hastens to add “sorry” when the figure looks almost disappointed at the revelation.

“No need to be sorry,” they shrug it off. “I would be more surprised if you had come out of that fully unscathed, considering how badly you’d been hit.” Their voice takes on a more scolding tone. “You should really be more careful, you know.”

Keith laughs and then quickly realized how weird that was, since this alien-person has just maybe kidnapped him, and they’ve only been talking for at most five minutes.

The person seems to once again gauge his change in attitude in that uncanny way of theirs, since they get up and walk over to one of the boxes lying around them and pull out Keith’s gear. He’s prepared to fight them for it, but surprisingly, they simply toss the items to Keith who catches them with ease.

“Alright, there’s a place for you to hide out until this whole thing blows over. A refugee camp, of sorts. Now it’s a little sketchy, but-”

“What thing?” Keith interrupts. “I’m not going anywhere except back to the satellite.”

“You…” They release an unexpectedly exasperated groan. “You can’t go back there.”

“Why not?” Keith asks, frustrated. Yeah, this person has saved him already, but that doesn’t mean they’re off the hook. He’s not going to trust someone who he’s known for five minutes and definitely not if they’ve taken him away from the only place he’s ever known.

“You’ve escaped the Galra now. You really think they won’t be on the lookout for you?”

“The Garrison-”

“The Garrison won’t help us! They’re cowards who’ll shy away from any conflict with the Galra! How do you think they keep attacking the compound and getting away with it?”

Keith doesn’t respond, partly because he’d suspected that already, but mostly because he hadn’t expected that outburst.

“Are- are you ex-Garrison?”

If Keith could see the figure’s face, he would say they’re most definitely rolling their eyes right now. 

“Oh, wow, figured it out, did you? Congratulations.”

Keith can’t help but ask the next question on his mind. “Do I-”

“No, nope. We’re not doing this now.”

“You didn’t even know what I was going to say!” Keith yelps, affronted.

“I could it figure out well enough,” they say drily before sighing. “Yes, I’m ex-Garrison.So you know I have personal experience.” Their voice grows softer as they turn to look at him. “The Garrison won’t take us back.”

“Maybe,” Keith concedes. The news honestly doesn’t come as much of a surprise to him since he’d already figured they were untrustworthy. “But I’m still not going to whatever place you want me to.”

“Wh-” The person frustratedly throws their hands in the air. “What the hell? We’re on the same side here! I- I literally just _saved_ you.”

“That doesn’t mean I can trust you.” This person might not be on the Galra’s side, but that doesn’t mean that they're on Keith’s. He hasn’t survived this long on trusting other people, and he sure isn’t starting now.

He gets up and starts walking away - to where he isn’t sure considering he’s on a damn spaceship - but he doesn’t get very far before he hears the voice behind him.

“Shiro.”

Keith is whipping around before he realizes he’s even moving. His tongue suddenly feels way too clunky in his mouth. “What.”

They seem to falter at the sudden reaction but pull through all the same. “Shiro’s at the refugee camp. I can get you to him.”

Keith doesn’t know if he can breathe. His chest is constricting, and he can feel his heart beating at a billion lightyears a second. Shiro’s alive. He’s actually alive. It’s one thing to have a gut feeling and another thing entirely to have someone say it out loud.

_‘Wait. Think about this for a second,’_ the rational part of his brain warns. _‘It could be a trap. This person might be trying to lower your guard, or-’_

_‘Shut up,’_ the rest of him says. It’s a chance, and that’s more than the Garrison has given him all these years.

Keith takes a shuddering breath and turns toward them. “All right,” he concedes. “I’ll go with you, um...”

He flounders, realizing that they never gave him a name. He can’t see their face but he somehow feels very sure that they’re smirking at his embarrassment.

“Call me… hmm, I don’t know.” They stop and think for a moment, though Keith can tell it’s mostly just for show. They just like watching him squirm. 

“Call me Blue,” they finally say.

“Blue?” Keith repeats. It’s not a name really.

“It’s my call sign.” Blue explains.

He didn’t know why he expected them to give him a name, but, he supposes, they might trust him just as little as he trusts them. 

“Okay,” he replies. “Well, my name’s Keith.”

Blue laughs, and Keith can tell that, beneath the distortion, the sound is strangely beautiful. 

“I know who you are,” they say before rushing to explain. “Shiro’s told me a lot about you. He’s shown pictures too, enough that I could probably pick you out of a lineup by sight.”

It doesn’t feel like the whole truth, but it’s a start.

The conversation seems to be drawing to a close, so Blue gets up to leave. 

“All right,” They say, gesturing to the hold the two of them are in. “This is your room.”

 

Keith makes a face, and Blue laughs again. “Yeah, it’s a little… unconventional, but it’s all I’ve got.”

“What about what’s beyond that door?” Keith points out, and sure enough, there’s a door to the right of them. It’s a little lost in the chaos of the room, but Keith suspects that that’s a more of a deliberate choice than an issue with tidiness. 

“Nope, you’re not allowed to go that way.” Blue snippily replies.

“Why not?” he counters. If there’s one thing Keith has always had a problem with, it’s being told what to do. _‘Especially by a brat I just met.’_

“Because that’s my room, and I don’t want you in there.” Blue finishes the sentence - and the conversation - with a loud clasping of their hands. “Okay, make yourself comfortable, and we’ll be on our way soon.”

They swiftly turn and walk out the door. Keith watches in irritation as the door slides open and close behind them. As soon as they’re gone, he leaps up and towards the door. There’s no handle that he can see, and the door doesn’t automatically open for him like it did with Blue. _‘Locked.’_ What sort of things would be in there that Keith can’t know about?

_‘Don’t question it too much,’_ he tells himself. _‘The important thing is that you’ll see Shiro again.’_

He knows this partnership is tentative at best. After all, he’s using Blue as means to an end. But there’s this niggling feeling that he might be getting used as a means too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you still don't know who Blue is, I don't know what to tell you dude.
> 
> However, this is told from Keith's POV, so I couldn't say anything explicitly.
> 
> Please don't ask for an explanation or spoilers in the comments. I swear it will all be revealed in time. (Looking at you Saspa I s2g)


End file.
